Book 2 – Page 47

[balder]

New One is up.

[Justyn]

Well, crap.

[Welf von Ehrwald]

So, he is using the battle crap to make a hole into the roof? And it seems Trem won't have his talk with parson

[Selexor]

So I want to get in first saying that I am now REALLY looking forward to when Tramennis finally meets Parson face-to-face.

I don't think Tramennis really goes in for the "light of heaven shining down" angle. But he's seeing if Ossomer still does. And he might also try it on Parson... until Parson calls his bluff and Tramennis admits he doesn't buy it either. I can definitely see the two of them having an almost friendly rivalry, much like Parson and Charlie do. Parson would respect someone who can actually think on his feet like Tramennis... and I think Tramennis would, for his part, have a little bit of admiration for Parson's knack of lateral thinking, even if it does break with tradition.

Of course, that's after Tramennis finishes being extremely pissed off at the underhanded tactics here.

[sleepymancer]

This is going to be fun!!

On an interesting side-note, I just got the best sleep-deprived, caffeine-induced hallucination ever (there's a reason for my tag, I guess)- Ossomer, in the second panel, just turned his head to look out of the page as I was scrolling down. I actually had to scroll back up to check it wasn't a flash animation embedded in the page, but no turns out I'm just crazy...

All is looking wonderful I must say!

Bestest,
T

[fractal]

When life gives you yellow dwagons, make a huge mess? Are the troops below in danger from the droppings themselves, or is this just a way to expose them to dive-bombing dwagons or other projectiles? Seems like if it's the former, Tramennis would be a bit more panicked.

"I'm certain he would not do so lightly." Nope, only when it's necessary to win!

Someone should clue Tramennis in that apparently everyone violates parleys around here. Bea and Jillian are just two of the other recent examples.

[robak]

And so it begins.

[mortissimus]

He, crap rain. Is it something of importance under that roof?

And Ossomer turned out to be quite good at stalling Tramennis, if only because he wants to bring the message of the Titans to his brother.

[cdrcjsn]

He, crap rain. Is it something of importance under that roof?

It's all the ground troops that don't have missile weapons. They were specifically ordered to hang out in the courtyard under the glass roof so they would be "safe" from aerial attacks.

[zeuspro]

Piles of poo on the roof. Somewhere soft to land maybe?


Perhaps not

[DoctorJest]

Piles of poo on the roof. Somewhere soft to land maybe?


Perhaps not

Yeah "acidic battle crap" doesn't sound like a good landing spot. Especially since it's already visibly eating through the roof.

[Altima]

Sadly, it looks like Ossomer will be the first one to be (re)croaked when Trem and co. see that they're basically screwing the parley.

Poor Ossomer.

[DoctorJest]

He, crap rain. Is it something of importance under that roof?

It's all the ground troops that don't have missile weapons. They were specifically ordered to hang out in the courtyard under the glass roof so they would be "safe" from aerial attacks.

That roof isn't glass.

[wonmean]

You've got to be shitting me!

[TMZ_Cinoros]

Wow, Jack certainly was not kidding when he said that the city "was unlikely to exist in this form for more than a few more minutes." Just a few exchanges of dialogue into the parley, and already the roof of the garrison is covered in acidic battle crap!

Looking again at the previous updates, it appears as though the garrison in Spacerock is different from the garrison in Gobwin Knob in that the Courtyard (I'm assuming that is the courtyard, rather than a previously unknown garrison zone, but it could also be a part of the tower) is entirely enclosed by walls and a roof. Presumably, this acts a lot like the walls surrounding Gobwin Knob's garrison, except that it protects against aerial attacks in addition to ground attacks from the Outer Walls zone. Well, at least until the ceiling has been breached by acidic battle crap. I'm really impressed with how much of the ceiling was destroyed without Tramennis or any one else noticing. Looking at previous art, that building is HUGE, and sizable portion of the ceiling has been destroyed. Definitely enough for dwagons to fly through.

Since the boundary between the Airspace and the the garrison is, well, the ground, and the ceiling that formed the boundary between the Courtyard and the Airspace has been melted, that means the dwagon armada can enter into the the building, but STILL be in Airspace (assuming, of course, that the building enclosing the Courtyard has a cathedral ceiling, rather than many floors). Once the archers open fire on the dwagons (which they will presumably), the dwagons can go into the Airspace above the Courtyard but within the walls and under the ceiling of the building, and the red dwagons can start torching the walls of the building. Meanwhile, all of the archers are in the tower, unable to fire on the dwagons already in the building. Yes, they can redeploy to the Courtyard, but not before the dwagons deal significant damage to the building. I'm not sure if the dwagons can attack the non-archers in the Courtyard, as the wiki only mentions that units in the Airspace zone can attack the tower. However, if the dwagons can attack units in the Courtyard after breaking through the ceiling, they should be able to buzz the units in the Courtyard, until redeployment of the archers and casters happens. Otherwise, they may need to let the fire spread and barbecue the infantry in the building.

Then, as losses steadily occur on both sides, Wanda can decrypt dead dwagons and freshly croaked infantry and heavies. They don't even NEED to do the fall/decrypt strategy, assuming Airspace can attack the Courtyard. Well, not the intentional fall then decrypt strategy, at least. Enough dwagons will probably be shot down, and enough Jetstone infantry killed, that Wanda can decrypt dead units on the ground without even intentionally subjecting units to falling damage. Of course, this all depends on the exact mechanics of which zone can attack which subzone and of how fire affects a large building, and how quickly units can be redeployed in the city. If fire doesn't spread and Airspace units can only attack the tower, then they'll probably have to do the fall/decrypt strategy. Fortunately, Jack and Wanda have their healomancy scrolls ready to save each other from incapacitation. Also, Jack's foolamancy can probably buy enough time to reach the tipping point where Wanda has decrypted enough infantry to take the garrison.

Anyway, sorry if this is a rehash of previously mentioned theories.

EDIT: Ok, I'm wrong. Fall/Decrypt is the only way the dwagons can attack the infantry. My post on page 4 gives an explanation. Also, it looks as though the building is called an Atrium, as explained in Book 2 Text Update 25. I shouldn't post at 2 AM.

[ftl]

Well, we now know step 1 of the plan. Acidic battlecrap to melt the roof.

Also, Ossomer is completely talking out of his rear end. He's talking about how Parson isn't dishonorable, and how he's sure he had good reasons... while personally knowing absolutely nothing about Parson or his reasons.

[Utoryo]

EDIT: Good point, TMZ_Cinoros - the dwagons *might* still be in airspace even inside the garrison, which would make falling redundant. I very much doubt that they are going to wait for Jetstone to redeploy though; it seems more likely that Parson would try to grab a large decrypted infantry before they even have the chance to counter.

So, here's the plan I suspect:
1) Destroy part of the garrison's roof through dragon poop
2) Rapidly drop all units through that hole (with Wanda and Jack taking turns to benefit from the scrolls, maybe with Foolamancy cover)
3) Decrypt fallen units and, even more importantly, Jetstone infantry stationed there (some of which will already be dead due to poop/falling dwagons).
4) Kill all remaining Jetstone infantry and Decrypt them while remaining under the roof, therefore being mostly untouchable by enemy archers.
5) Attack the tower with the decrypted Jestone infantry units and croak the king (would this require waiting for their own turn?)

Hmm... that would mean GK no longer has any air units in the battlefield during Jetstone's turn. If I'm right, it's not hard to see how the Jetpack might let Tramennis escape risk-free. The only question, of course, is how does Tramennis get to be heir without Charlie's bounty for a living Archon. And what remains of Jetstone's military for Tramennis to command if Spacerock falls anyway? Alternatively, Tramennis could get his wish and meet Parson personally, but I don't see how he gets out of that alive unless he makes Parson feel so bad about himself that he lets him flee on purpose.

The one big surprise we might still get is Ossomer actually turning back to Jetstone right here, right now. Wanda feeling Ossomer's wavering loyalty might be what was hinted in the text update. He might still be loyal to Wanda (if even that), but he clearly isn't to Parson - and presumably he wasn't aware of all the details of the plan, given that they wouldn't have wanted him to reveal anything by mistake during the parley. I could imagine something along the lines of "Do you truly believe *that* to be the will of the Titan? You dishonour them with your lies!" convincing him to change his mind despite the decryption effect. That would certainly spice things up!

[TMZ_Cinoros]

EDIT: Good point, TMZ_Cinoros - the dwagons *might* still be in airspace even inside the garrison, which would make falling redundant. I very much doubt that they are going to wait for Jetstone to redeploy though; it seems more likely that Parson would try to grab a large decrypted infantry before they even have the chance to counter.

Thanks! However, I may not have been entirely clear. I think that the dwagons have to be attacked first before they can attack anything else, outside of dropping things. Obviously, they won't wait for the archers to redeploy, but I don't think the dwagons can use their breath attack until they've been attacked first.

The truth is, there are a lot of rules that we aren't 100% clear on here. All we can really do is speculate on precisely how the rules work based on what has been revealed. What plays out will depend completely on the specific technicalities of how the rules work.

[Ytaker]

I remember some debate about how dishonourable Parson running through the magic kingdom would be, against convention. Possibly this will help Ossomer turn, if he does. Also, the second violation of parley, going on even now, will likely weaken his loyalty.

[Zeku]

Oh, the opportunity I missed, by not mentioning the Bogroll target during the food fight discussions. I just neglected to formulate a post around it.

So, they are like the xenomorph from Alien? They bleed/boop out acid?


Edit: So, not to oversimplify this, but the simplest strategy at this point is for the dragons to simply descend into the garrison and begin destroying the melee troops there. The archers will still be able to deal massive damage, but any misses by the archers are likely to hit friendly Jetstone targets. It's a "food fight," because even though GK will begin losing troops immediately, every dwagon and every melee troop can be immediately decrypted, (once) The garrison should be purged of all Jetsone troops rather quickly, so the only question is whether the archers can be taken down by the new decrypted in time to win the battle. Parson's presence there will function as a bonus, another attacker, and preventing Jetstone from spending money to repair the roof.